Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. Now, we have #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back. On Tuesday 1 December 2015, charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world will be coming together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give. - from the GivingTuesday website.Last year, you helped New Day make an incredible difference in the lives of so many children by raising money for our medical funds.

Giving Tuesday is here again and we are welcoming donations specifically for our heating system. A generous donor is going to match every dollar up to $5,000 donated to this heating fundChina recently raised the standards on how buildings are heated in the winter. Instead of using coal, China now requires everything to be heated entirely with gas.

In the long run this will drastically reduce the amount of pollution and smog in the air, however, at the moment it is quite a financial strain. Gas heating costs three to four times more than New Day was paying previously for coal. It is a substantial and unexpected expense. In order to cut down the cost somewhat we set our entire system on 21°Celsius (70°F) to make each gas container last longer. With winter wind and temperatures in Beijing getting down to -6°C (22°F) recently. The system has a hard time maintaining that temperature, so the chill never seems to leave the air, even indoors. For medical fragile children it is essential that a constant warmer temperature is maintained.

Click here to make a donation to our Heating system. All donations will be matched!

Here is an opportunity for you to "be part of a global celebration of a new tradition of generosity": #GivingTuesday

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Do you remember your childhood trips to the Zoo? How each animal was so enthralling that you never wanted to move on to see what was next? We wanted the children in our project to have the chance to experience a bit of what a Zoo is like, so, avoiding the single-digit weather outside... The Zoo came to the children's own activity room!

See the giraffe's loooong neck? What does he like to eat? Michael gives a fresh green leaf as a snack.

Let's move on to see what is next!

Elephants! My, what a long, strong nose you have, Chad!

Roar! What could be making all that noise next door?

Watch out, kids! These lions are hungry. Make sure to stand back when you feed them... Just throw the meat to them, like this...

Looks like you've got the hang of it, Rina! Let's go see what other hungry animals there are to feed!

Silly monkeys!

Evangeline, can you make the "ooh-ooh-ah-ah" sound like a monkey?

Uh-oh! How did the monkey get on to nanny's head?

Good job feeding the hungry monkey, Michael!

What great helpers you all are. The Zookeepers will be so glad to have you back next time!

Friday, November 25, 2016

We are honored to feature this post written by Markie' adoptive mother!Life as a prayer reveals itself through the bonds of love. This bonding of hearts, of souls, is in our DNA. In my view, it's the best of our humanness, really. My son, my Markie, whose bonds of love span this world and Heaven-spots alike, illuminates the most grateful and graceful prayer I've ever known: Family.

The joining of my family, through DNA of birth, DNA of orphanage, DNA of New Day Foster Home, DNA of donor, DNA of doctor, DNA of sponsor, DNA of corporation, DNA of country East and West, and, most blessedly, DNA of kindred soul, is a miraculous helix. It's the sort that science and logic can only half explain. The rest is left to my mind that is staid in knowing and my heart that is steadfast in loving. Each night my son and I say our grateful prayers. It's a tender and sweet and often funny time for us as we recount our blessings: prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of healing, prayers of hope.

MJZ, as I often call him, is a beacon of hope to me. As his mother and kindred soul, I know I must nurture his humanity so that he will always know his own. It is my privilege to help him make sense of his life narrative, now and across time. Our stories tell us who we are, who we wish to be. And, our acts of kindness and self- and other-healing manifest that story in the best of ways, in this world here and now. That's why our family has chosen to love it forward again this Thanksgiving and sponsor two children at New Day:

A child named Marcus, Markie's almost namesake. Precious Marcus, who received a life-saving liver transplant this past year, much like Markie just three years ago. Markie and I love you, and we continue to stand bonded with you as you take one healing step at a time.

A child named Amelia, born on August 29, 2015, one year following the day Markie's dear foster brother, Albert, passed away months after an unsuccessful liver transplant. Precious Amelia, who now awaits her own life-saving liver transplant. Markie and I love you, and we stand bonded with you as you take one healing step at a time.

Life as a prayer: I am my father's daughter and the mother of my son. Ours is a family braid infinitely larger than three. Amen.

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Disclaimer

We provide this information to give our sponsors and supporters a general idea of the challenges our children face. For prospective adoptive parents, the information on the blog is not intended to be a substitute for a complete and up-to-date referral packet from your adoption agency. Please keep in mind that in our blog posts, we always try to focus on a child's strengths, accomplishments and positive developments, not in an attempt to gloss-over their often serious medical conditions, but in an effort to share a glimpse of their precious personalities.

If you are a NDFH adoptive family with a blog, please let us know and we'll add you to the list! We won't add any family without their permission, as we want to respect the privacy of our adoptive families.

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